IP2IPO Group PLC
14 March 2005
For Immediate Release 14 March 2005
IP2IPO Group plc
Holding in Company
IP2IPO Group plc ('IP2IPO' or 'the Company') (AIM: IPO), the intellectual
property company that commercialises university technology, has been informed by
Evolution Group plc ('Evolution') that it has disposed of its 17.4% holding in
the Company through the sale of 7,502,170 shares to institutional investors.
Evolution no longer has an interest in the Company's shares.
David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer of IP2IPO, said: 'I am delighted to
welcome new institutional shareholders to the Company, whose shareholder base
has developed substantially since flotation in October 2003 as underlined by
this announcement.'
-Ends-
For more information please contact:
IP2IPO
David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer 020 7242 9900
Buchanan Communications
Tim Anderson, Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson 020 7466 5000
Notes to editors
About IP2IPO
IP2IPO is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in
commercialising university technology. The Company was founded in 2001 and
listed on AIM in October 2003. IP2IPO's first partnership was with the
University of Oxford. In return for an investment of £20 million, IP2IPO has
acquired 50 per cent of the University of Oxford's equity in spin-out companies
and technology licenses based on intellectual property created at the Chemistry
Department until 2015. In November 2003, IP2IPO created a £5 million seed
capital fund for investing in spin-out companies across the University of
Oxford, not just those originating within the Chemistry Department. In March
2002, IP2IPO entered into a second long-term partnership with the University of
Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO is committed to working
with the University of Southampton in the identification and facilitation of
spin-out companies from across the University of Southampton and to investing £5
million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-out companies over a four
year period in return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO
also received a 20 per cent stake in Southampton Asset Management Limited, a
company that has been formed to hold the University's equity stakes in its
future spin-out companies. The partnership has a term of at least 25 years.
IP2IPO entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King's
College London. IP2IPO will work with King's College London to help identify and
progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5 million in seed
capital in spin-out companies from King's College London over a five year period
in return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO will receive
20 per cent of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies and
technology licenses. The partnership has an initial term of 25 years.
In October 2003, IP2IPO announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for Novel
Agricultural Products ('CNAP'), based at the University of York. CNAP is a
flagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.
Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has been
created which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP2IPO has
committed to invest £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a one third equity
stake in Amaethon Limited (the remaining equity being owned by the University of
York) and will also invest in the spin-out companies based on CNAP's IP which
Amaethon Limited creates.
In July 2004, IP2IPO acquired a strategic 20% stake in Techtran Group Limited
('Techtran'), acquiring the remaining 80% stake in January 2005. Techtran has a
long-term technology commercialisation contract with the University of Leeds.
Techtran receives a significant (30%) interest in spin-out companies created and
technology licences negotiated in return for the provision of technology
transfer services to the University.
In June 2004, IP2IPO acquired Top Technology Ventures Limited, an investment
adviser to early stage technology funds. This combines IP2IPO's expertise in the
creation of new ventures based on world leading university IP with Top
Technology's focus on making early stage venture capital investments.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.